1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a production method for a laminated electronic component, and more particularly, to a production method for a laminated electronic component, such as a laminated ceramic capacitor array, in which a plurality of internal electrodes are provided between a plurality of ceramic layers.
2. Description of the Related Art
With recent size reduction of electronic apparatuses, such as mobile telephones and portable music players, the mounting density of electronic components on wiring boards included in the electronic apparatuses is increasing rapidly. In response to this, in order to reduce the mounting space and the number of components to be mounted, there is a demand for electronic components to include a plurality of circuit elements in one chip. As such electronic components, array type electronic components represented by a capacitor array are used.
An array type multiterminal electronic component includes a laminated body having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. A plurality of substantially belt-shaped external terminal electrodes are provided on side surfaces of the laminated body.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-47707 discloses a typical laminated ceramic capacitor array. More specifically, referring to FIG. 9, first and second internal electrodes 111 and 112 are provided on each of the upper and lower ceramic layers 105 and 106. Lead-out portions of the internal electrodes 111 and 112 are exposed at side surfaces 102a and 102b of a ceramic base body 100, and are electrically connected to external terminal electrodes 121 and 122 provided on the side surfaces 102a and 102b. For example, the external terminal electrodes 121 and 122 are formed by applying electrode paste, as taught in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-22183.
In recent years, capacitor arrays have been required to have an increased capacity, and therefore, it is necessary to increase the areas of the internal electrodes 111 and 112. To increase the areas of the internal electrodes 111 and 112 while ensuring size reduction, it is necessary to reduce a side gap G between the capacity section and end surfaces 103a and 103b of the ceramic base body 100. However, if the side gap G is too small, adhesiveness between the ceramic layers 105 and 106 decreases, and moisture easily reaches the internal electrodes 111 and 112. This may cause failure, such as a short circuit.
Even if design dimensions are determined in view of the limit of the side gap, since a production process for the capacitor array includes other factors causing failure, such as layer misalignment or displacement due to cutting, the side gap is typically not provided specifically as designed. Accordingly, to remove defects by checking the side gap, portions of internal electrodes that are exposed at side surfaces of each ceramic base body are observed with an image pickup device, such as a camera, and the side gap is measured. Unfortunately, since the exposed portions are relatively small, measurement accuracy is reduced, and the operation is quite cumbersome. For this reason, in reality, the side gap is inevitably designed to be larger than required.